“Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and shock and emotions.” – Hayao Miyazaki
Firstly, no, this isn’t about hentai or those disturbing cartoons that have the Simpsons or the Griffins engaging in unspeakable acts. So for those that came upon this post either hoping for that or by simple (if deranged) Googling, my apologies. Adult animation isn’t meant to evoke pornographic images of cartoon boobs flopping about but instead is the idea of animated films made specifically for mature audiences, dealing with mature subjects. The fact is that there are some stories that can truly only be told through certain mediums, whether it’s the printed page or the silver screen. And within those mediums, there are subcategories of ways to tell stories – live action versus animation being one divide. While animation has been relegated to “kids’ stuff” for the majority of its existence, the time is perfect for more animated films to be created and released that specifically target an adult audience.
The latest example to hit theaters is “Sausage Party,” a foul-mouthed computer animated film that sounds like a Pixar feature run through the National Lampoon‘s offices. The movie imagines a world where food is sentient and talks to each other but is unaware of their role in the lives of humans as something to be consumed. And so this “Toy Story” meets “Superbad” journey of a hot dog and a bun begins, with many deviations along the path for jokes of varying degrees of offensiveness and taste.
